LITTLE CREATURES

I was encouraged to try out Little Creatures after Talking Heads got an honorary mention on Progarchives and I will admit that the 2 singles this album generated were something I remember enjoying back in the 80s. I recall Talking Heads being talked about at the time as something a little different from the standard pop that dominated UK charts; however I never considered the singles different or special enough to take a punt on the rest of their music. Afterall I was still catching up on all the epic stuff I was too young to enjoy from the 70s and even that stuff was competing with all the metal and alternative rock that was appearing daily. So was it worth my effort to pull out this old vinyl recording, making a digital copy and whacking it onto my Sonos? In a word, Nope!

Let's be fair to Talking Heads, they were a little different from the pack and they had a quite refreshing approach to their music so I perfectly understand all those 80s music fans getting a little excited about this stuff. However, at the time this stuff was getting all popular I was discovering The Sisters of Mercy, Alien Sex Fiend and Marillion as well as catching up on AC/DC, Black Sabbath and The Scorpions - I know I was a musical schizophrenic but that's because I still didn't know that prog was my thing. So you can see why I didn't find time for Talking Heads or any other mildly interesting pop band. I do think we should see Talking Heads as sitting at the more sophisticated end of the pop spectrum as they competently produced consumable music that will probably still be with the original 80s fans - I bet they still play this stuff when they are alone!

So Little Creatures runs through 9 tracks that never escape from 4 time and don't seem to be interested in trying different structures even though there isn't such a strong reliance on vocal hooks as you might expect from pop music. Some songs like Television Man do have minor dalliances in something that is unexpected but it simply isn't enough to satisfy an ardent prog listener. The album is book-ended by those 2 singles And She Was.. and Road To Nowhere just to make sure you hear the whole thing (assuming you enjoy Road to Nowhere). Most of the tracks are forgettable enough and there isn't a vocal performance or musician that stands out enough to keep you listening. This whole thing is competent and a little different but it isn't anything else. The lyrics are quite original and despite some repetition I never get annoyed with them which makes it easy to continue listening even though I tend to switch off after a while.

There is some texture to the music but what this stuff really needs above all else, is a little more passion from the vocals because it really needs something more to grab you by the wotnots and force you to hear it out. For my own experience, after about a dozen spins I started to get bored with the singles (because they were already too familiar) which allowed me to dip into the other tracks. That's the point where I realized I was not going to get any more out of this experience and I decided to write this review and move on to something more rewarding.

In summary, Little Creatures is an ok 1980s pop album with an interesting style that made it stand out at the time but with hindsight it isn't anything special and it really doesn't have any business sitting in a progressive music collection. It is a statement on how music began to diversify again after those awful 80s years of synth pop but will only really be of interest to 80s pop fans. Let them have it I say.

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